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Origin and history

Bellevue Castle, formerly known as the Belbèze or Bellovidere castel, has its origins in the Middle Ages as a fortress controlling a strategic point on the Tarn. Its initial role was military, linked to the defence of an essential river crossing in the region. The first recorded mention dates back to the 13th century, during the crusade of the Albigeois, when his lords, Béranger and Gautier de Saint-Jean, offered it in 1248 to the displaced inhabitants of Montégut, whose nearby castle was destroyed after the Treaty of Meaux (1229). This donation is part of a strategy of the Count of Toulouse, Raymond VII, to avoid conflicts between lords and the new bastide of Lisle-sur-Tarn, founded to relocate these populations.

In the 13th century, the castle passed under the control of Alphonse de Poitiers, Count of Toulouse from 1249, before being integrated into the royal domain. John II then gave it to his senechal Regnault d'Aubigny, then the building became an occasional residence for the Duke of Berry. During the Wars of Religion (16th century), although Lisle-sur-Tarn remained mostly Catholic, in 1579 the castle hosted a chamber of justice dependent on the Toulouse Parliament, temporarily installed after the Treaty of Nerac. This joint decision of Catherine of Medici and Henry III of Navarre (future Henri IV) marks her involvement in the religious tensions of the time.

Between the 17th century and the Revolution, the castle was acquired in 1636 by Pierre Desplats, councillor and then president of the Toulouse Parliament. Transferred by marriage to the family of the Puget de Gau, he escaped revolutionary confiscations. In the 19th century, Charles Pie du Puget rebuilt it entirely in a neo-classical style before selling it in 1809 to Charles Louis Maxime de Chastenet de Puységur, former emigrant who became prefect. After several hand changes, including a donation to the French Society for the Relief of Military Injured, the municipality of Lisle-sur-Tarn acquired in 1973 to set up associations, despite a persistent state of disrepair.

The current U-shaped architecture with a central house body and two low wings dates from the 19th century reconstruction. The base preserves traces of its medieval functions (kitchens, cellar, press), while the brick facades and interior decorations (gypsy, faience stove) testify to its evolution into a seigneurial residence. Dependencies, such as the lost mills or the farmhouse, remind of its anchoring in an agricultural and strategic area.

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